At Last! Wireless that Works!

I've been somewhat anti-wireless for sometime. The idea of cramming a speaker, an amplifier, power for the amplifier, and an RF receiver into a small box and expecting to be able to deliver good quality sound is pretty far fetched. To my knowledge, there still does not exist a suitable solution to the home theater application. I was, however, recently introduced to the SoundCast OutCast.

This thing is unbelievable. You would never guess that the sound produced by the OutCast is from a wireless signal. It advertises that it will connect your MP3 player, IPod, computer and even your TV, which leads me to believe that it would be just as easy to connect it to the Zone 2 pre-outs on your home theater receiver with a simple adapter. Very cool. If any of you have used it, I'd love to hear your take on it. You can expect to spend approx. $700 for the OutCast and the transmitter. Not bad for a great sounding, portable, indoor/outdoor wireless speaker system.

Time Savers & Stress Relievers - Vol.1

This post is the first in what is to be a series of brief posts entitled "Time Savers & Stress Relievers." The object of this series is to provide tips and tricks to help make acquiring and installing your home electronics a little easier.

One of the most frustrating steps when installing a home theater receiver and some speakers is connecting the speaker wires to the binding posts (A binding post contains a central threaded metal rod and a cap that screws down on that rod). Typically, this involves stripping the speaker wire back, loosening the binding post cap, inserting the wire into a slot in the post, and tightening the cap to clamp the wire into place.

There are several drawbacks to this scenario. It's labor intensive, it's an unreliable connection, and there's a greater chance for a short. You'll also run into problems if you've gone the extra mile and run larger gauge wire as it becomes difficult to fit the wire in the slot.

There is a simple solution. They're called Banana Plugs or Banana Connectors. The idea is that you fasten the end of the wire into the banana plug concealing all bare wire and eliminating the possibility of a short. The best part is the fact that you don't have to fight the binding post. After fastening the banana plug to the wire, you simply plug it in to the center of the binding post. This also makes future removal or maintenance much easier.

Banana plugs range anywhere from $5/pr to over $20/pr. I use the $5 units and I've been very happy with them. Feel free to contact me for more information.

The Universe of Remote Controls

In my daily search for ways to be even lazier than I am currently, I've looked far and wide for the universal remote control. I've experienced, among others, the Philips Pronto, the Universal Remote Control's, and Logitech's Harmony. There are two important questions I ask when looking at universal remote controls.

Would my mom be able to figure this out?
Would my mom be able to afford it?

Having been in the industry now for quite a few years, I've developed the practice of finding products that I not only trust to work the way they advertize, but also have great manufacturer support.

For the past 3 years, I've been recommending the Harmony universal remote control line from Logitech. They have something for virtually every budget and application. Technically, they can't compete in the Home Automation market, with companies like Crestron and AMX, but they come very close with a much smaller price tag. Aside from controlling home electronics components, but they're capable of controlling lighting using an RF technology called Z-wave.

The greatest feature of the Harmony remote is most easily explained by recreating the scenario. If you press the "Watch TV" button, the remote would automatically send out a series of commands to turn on all necessary equipment and set each component to its appropriate input. Upon pressing the "Watch DVD" button, the remote control would remember which devices were already on, as well as which input, and only send the necessary commands to effect the change to DVD. All at the press of one button. These remotes also have a dedicated "Off" button which turns off all equipment at once, rather than having to turn off each individually.

This is referred to as being "Activity-based," as opposed to "Macro-based" which would send out the exact same series of commands every time the button is pressed without checking the current state of each component, occasionally causing undesirable results.

Another great feature of these remotes is the "Help" button. It is, in essence, a virtual service call. If one or more components fail to work properly upon selecting an activity, you can press the "Help" button with will then ask you a series of Yes or No questions to try to diagnose the problem. While it's doing this, it is actually sending out commands that it thinks may resolve the issue. In my experience, approximately 70% of cases are resolved without your assistance.

These remotes are fantastic. I recommend them to all my clients and would be more than happy to entertain any questions you may have.